While this article is a little shorter than normal, I combed through all the recent articles and got caught up. I’m out the first part of the week but will see how much information is available for a mid-week article.

General

• Hitters could struggle without the needed reps against pitching.

Shelton said the Pirates are more concerned with transitioning their position players back into game-type activity, as it could be a shock to their systems to face live pitching for the first time in three months.

American League

Indians

• The starters will be ahead of a normal Spring Training schedule with one pitcher up to five innings back in May.

Indians pitchers pledged months ago to arrive at Spring Training Part 2 — Summer Training? 2 Spring 2 Training? — more prepared than they would be for a traditional spring ramp-up period. By the end of May, one Indians starter had already built up to a five-inning workload. But with an abbreviated schedule and expanded rosters, will teams even deploy pitchers in a customary fashion? The Indians could get creative, given their depth. Before injuries intervened, they had three starting pitchers — Plesac, Plutko and Aaron Civale — jockeying for the final two rotation spots.

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Some random ideas to think about.

• Normally, I don’t care about the opening day starters, they could give owners an edge with the league having an opening weekend. The top-three starters will be the only pitchers getting starts to give some owners a head start.

• Managers with playoff bullpen experience could be at an advantage.

”Managers who have managed in playoff situations probably have a little bit more advantage with how to use their bullpens and things like that,” Shelton said.

American League

Angels

• Shohei Ohtani will throw just once a week and never be a two-start pitcher.

Shohei Ohtani will be utilized similar to how he would in a regular 162-game season. He'll still pitch once a week. Maddon said he expects as a six-man rotation as a result.

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) June 24, 2020

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I’m cleaning up any news I have a backlog because I’m off on vacation next week and hopefully when I return, a decision will exist on an MLB season. As a reminder, the focus of this article is to dive deeper than the headline news like Chris Archer’s surgery.

General information

The effects of a concussion can still be felt two years later.

Interesting nugget on #concussions. Remember this when you have an athlete that suffered a concussion less than 2 years ago… pic.twitter.com/y70wfYiuPt

— Jesse Morse, MD (@DrJesseMorse) May 1, 2020

Here is a list of players who have been on the IL for a concussion over the past two years.
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Once Spring Training was shut down, MLB.com must have ordered their writer to publish articles on “Roster Battles” and “What We Learned” since each team got one. I ground through all 60 of them and here is what I learned.

American League

Astros

• Bryan Abreu might be one of the team’s starters.

As camp progressed, rookie Bryan Abreu emerged as a legitimate candidate for the fifth spot as well.

I’m intrigued by the news. Abreu has always been a high-strikeout pitcher (11.9 K/9 in AAA, 13.5 K/9 in majors in 2019). His fastball sat at 95 mph last year. His slider and curve graded above average. His problem was fastball control and has always posted high walk rates. He’s starting to show some control. In the majors, he had a 3.1 BB/9. In spring training, it was 3.0 BB/9. While most prospect reports place him in the bullpen, I can see why the Astros have fallen for him.
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I’ve been sitting on a ton of possibly useful information since Spring Training was cut short. I was just going to sort through it once MLB tries to start up but it was becoming too much. I’m going to purge all the information in two to three articles and try to write Mining the News on a regular basis.

Here several quotes from several team officials and coaches on how long they think it’ll take to get pitchers ready.

• Jon Daniels says the Rangers are “idling”.

Daniels said the Rangers want their pitchers “idling their engines.” That means not shutting it down completely, but also not going at full intensity without knowing when they will be called back to work.

“Until the league tells us otherwise, we are going to try and keep guys in some sort of state of readiness,” Daniels said. “That’s going to vary with each guy based on what they can do safely. We don’t want anybody to do anything that will jeopardize their health or the public’s health.”

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Today’s edition is abbreviated but I felt I needed to draw a line from the first Spring Training to the second one whenever it occurs. A few tidbits snuck through before everything came to a halt.

For the next few articles, I’m going to grind through the velocity gainers and losers next, cross-check those with Jason Collette’s new pitch tracker, and find some possible breakouts.
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The useful news coming out of camps is drying up. Reporters are transitioning to the standard format of regurgitating the boxscore with a few standard (i.e. lame) starting pitcher comments thrown in.

There may be a bit more content coming since I’m not going to New York for Tout Wars and instead it will be online. I will publish something late on Friday. It might be another Mining the News or I might rank the current closer crop.

American League

Athletics

• Chris Bassitt is likely making the rotation.

Puk’s recent shoulder injury likely flips he and Bassitt’s roles to begin the season. The A’s have not announced an Opening Day starter yet, but let’s assume Mike Fiers gets the nod again. You’re looking at a starting five of Fiers, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Jesus Luzardo and Bassitt.

Blue Jays

• Shun Yamaguchi has not perfected a grip on the MLB ball and may be headed to the bullpen.

Yamaguchi, who is a contender for Toronto’s fifth rotation spot but might slot in as a reliever when the team breaks camp, has spent every day of Spring Training getting acquainted with the baseballs he will be using in the Majors. But he admits that his education will continue when he travels to the new locations and the varying climates he will experience for the first time.
…
Yamaguchi’s primary focus has been on his grip, as he continues to search for the spin he had in Japan. Facing the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Toronto’s 4-2 win on Tuesday, the hurler made progress over his three innings, allowing one run — a Kyle Higashioka homer — on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

What I took from the article, is that he’s just not comfortable and probably going to relieve. I think his status could change mid-season once everything clicks. I’m backing off for now, but I’ll keep an eye on him and could pick up shares once the Jays believe he is ready.
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I’ll be Mining the News until Thursday and then I’m off to New York for Tout Wars and an NFBC Main Event Draft. I’ll be back around Tuesday to start up again.

American League

Angels

• Matt Andriese is trying to bring back his slider.

Andriese is working on his slider this spring, as it’s a pitch he utilizes more when he starts than when he’s in relief. He hasn’t thrown it much over the last four seasons, but Andriese did throw a slider regularly as a rookie in 2015.

This might be a huge improvement for him. While not a great pitch (12% SwStr%, 52% GB%), it’s significantly better than his curve (7% SwStr%, 56% GB%). His change (16% SwStr%, 62% GB%) is still his best non-fastball.
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I’m caught up with a mix of recent or older news. I’m now off to the Spring Training fastball velocity tracker to catch it up.

American League

Astros

• While Kyle Tucker hasn’t dialed in his swing yet he seems to have a spot on the MLB team.’

Tucker seems to have a spot locked up on the big league club, and he will push for playing time in right field with Reddick, but there’s progress that needs to be made at the plate.

Baker said he sees signs that Tucker’s long left-handed swing is coming around.

“That’s why I’m trying to give him as much time to get ready as possible, because he’s a long-lever guy and the long-lever guys tend to take longer, just like older players take longer to get their timing and get warmed up,” Baker said. “The shorter-lever guys tend to have a shorter stroke, tend to get it quicker than the guys like him being a longer-lever guy.”

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After taking last week off from Mining the News, I’m back with a partial recap and almost no in-depth commentary. It’s still almost 3000 words of projection altering nuggets. Also, I’m trying to catch up on the Spring Training fastball velocity tracker. Hopefully, both will be up-to-date in a day or so.

American League

Angels

• The Angels are considering Patrick Sandoval, Jose Suarez, Matt Andriese, and Jaime Barria for the rotation.

Patrick Sandoval (the Angels’ top pitching prospect, according to MLB Pipeline) started one of the team’s two games on Sunday, while Jose Suarez took the ball in the other. Both are considered candidates for the rotation, as are Matt Andriese and Jaime Barria.

“The candidates are great, it’s just a matter of experience and how they’ll be able to deal with all that,” Maddon said of the 22-year-old Suarez and 23-year-old Sandoval. “If you’re a scout and maybe just ran a fantasy baseball team, you kind of like this stuff. …

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